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A young man who sold his kidney as a teenager in order to buy a new iPhone and iPad is now bedridden for life after his remaining kidney failed.

Chinese man Wang Shangkun, 25, was aged just 17 when he sold his right kidney to black market organ harvesters in April 2011.

Mr Wang, from Anhui Province in East China, received AUD$4,500 and purchased a iPhone 4 and iPad 2 with the funds.

“Why do I need a second kidney? One is enough,” he said in reports at the time.

Mr Wang now spends his days in bed and relies on dialysis to survive his kidney failure, local Chinese media recently revealed.

He developed renal deficiency shortly after the illegal surgery, which is believed to have led to an infection due to the unsanitary setting where it took place and the apparent lack of postoperative care.

Mr Wang was also forced to give up his studies and now lives on social benefits.

Nine people were arrested in connection with the case and five, including the surgeons who harvested his kidney, were jailed in 2012.

His family was eventually awarded about $300,000 in compensation later the same year.

Mr Wang desperately sought the new iPhone in order to show off to his friends, according to reports.

However, his family lived in one of China’s poorest provinces and could not afford it, so he turned to other means to raise the money.

The operation occurred in the city of Chenzhou in southern China, at the hands of the two doctors who were also employed at local hospitals.

This. No idea how these lists work in detail, but I'd ban a guy willingly giving up a kidney for monetary gain from ever receiving a transplant. Imagine being the parent of a kid who also needs a kidney transplant and you learn the one your kid was supposed to get is going to a guy who sold one of his for an iPhone.

But it's probably being handled like livers for alcoholics: very very low priority for you on the list.

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This. No idea how these lists work in detail, but I'd ban a guy willingly giving up a kidney for monetary gain from ever receiving a transplant. Imagine being the parent of a kid who also needs a kidney transplant and you learn the one your kid was supposed to get is going to a guy who sold one of his for an iPhone.

But it's probably being handled like livers for alcoholics: very very low priority for you on the list.

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I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."

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I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."

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I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."

What??? I have yet to see a single fellow lefty to tout China as a utopia. But I guess if you live in a world of conspiracy theories and evil socialis boogiemen, beliefs like this are the expected outcome...

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What??? I have yet to see a single fellow lefty to tout China as a utopia. But I guess if you live in a world of conspiracy theories and evil socialis boogiemen, beliefs like this are the expected outcome...

There were people arguing in one forum wether or not China should be considered a 1st world country. The fact that anyone would think this is laughable. The human rights violations, media censorship, and forced population control would count them out right off the bat. And then it also casts doubt on all the other reports of progress.

Leftists use to defend China (and the Soviets) before World War Two way more than they do now. They talk today about China’s explosive growth (since they opened up their economy to the free market-thanks capitalism!) and younger communists shrugging off the influence of past generations. They either ignore or have to begrudgingly admit the human rights violations and full on mass murder that has taken place in the past to the tune of 40 million people.

You should read the works of early socialists in America who praised Stalin and Chairman Mau just to reverse their position in the decades following World War 2. So now they have to put an asterisk next to their praise.

But they never seem to learn. look at the way they fawn over China’s little communists cousins: Venezuela and Cuba. How many idiots are still wearing Che Guavera shirts or think Chavez is a good leader?

Michael Moore was over in Cuba slobbering over their healthcare system. Sean Penn and Danny Glover down in Venezuela, chumming it up with Chavez. Now they are again having to admit they were wrong.

When will leftist ever make the connection that an increase in government takeover of anything increases corruption exponentially?

There were people arguing in one forum wether or not China should be considered a 1st world country. The fact that anyone would think this is laughable. The human rights violations, media censorship, and forced population control would count them out right off the bat. And then it also casts doubt on all the other reports of progress.

But they never seem to learn. look at the way they fawn over China’s little communists cousins: Venezuela and Cuba. How many idiots are still wearing Che Guavera shirts or think Chavez is a good leader?

Yes, people idolising Che Guevara exist, but I have yet to hear the praises for China from leftists (though I disagree with leftist who sing the praises of Guevara, as well; human rights violations are never acceptable).

I hope they will never make this false connection. Governmental influence and government-controlled infrastructural fields can be effective ways to counterbalance the power distribution that comes with liberal markets and big capital.

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It was my main forum for a year. I cannot recall much of praise for China.

Chances are they meant because of their economical power, not because of their great political system.
Yes, people idolising Che Guevara exist, but I have yet to hear the praises for China from leftists (though I disagree with leftist who sing the praises of Guevara, as well; human rights violations are never acceptable).
I hope they will never make this false connection. Governmental influence and government-controlled infrastructural fields can be effective ways to counterbalance the power distribution that comes with liberal markets and big capital.

“Big capital” “liberal markets”. You mean things that people participate in voluntarily? Things that in order for us to buy into, we have to be coninviced of it first? Not really sure that compares to an insutition that owns all the power and can make people give them their money against their wills.

As far as China-loving leftists... I don’t know what to say. They exists and are fairly common, but usually have to do exactly what you just did- praise their economic growth (again, thanks to free markets- because there is no way in hell it was because of great commie economic policy) while putting an asterisk next to mass murder. There was a thread on resetera that debated the one child policy with many of the people siding with the Chinese government. There was another thread where they went back and forth on whether or not China should be considered 1st world- with the focus being on cheap and crumbling *new* infrastructure post Beijing olympics. And people still defended them!

How it was executed was draconian, but the overpopulation was a serious issue and I would struggle to come up with a good solution against it. Maybe you could give financial incentives for not having children, but other than that, it is a really difficult thing to deal with. Which does not excuse the numerous human rights breaches of China, mind you, but the overpopulation issue was a very difficult issue where no similar issue had to be solved in western countries so far.

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Well of course, we all have a free choice whether we participate in liberal markets. I mean, if I choose to live in a socialist democracy then sure as hell this will be happening tomorrow.

How it was executed was draconian, but the overpopulation was a serious issue and I would struggle to come up with a good solution against it. Maybe you could give financial incentives for not having children, but other than that, it is a really difficult thing to deal with. Which does not excuse the numerous human rights breaches of China, mind you, but the overpopulation issue was a very difficult issue where no similar issue had to be solved in western countries so far.

You don’t. That is simply not government’s job. And I question the assertion that they even had a problem to begin with. They are the second largest country area wise. They had the room. The fact that no one wanted to move out into the country and strike out on their own or to smaller villages shows the awful and strict controls the government has over starting new businesses, purchasing property, starting a family farm, moving to a neighboring country (not always China’s fault why they won’t move away). You want to see a country that has a real problem with overpopulation? Read about Bangladesh. That’s the closest I’ve ever seen to overpopulation being a problem.